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Shaw Nielsen

@shawnielsen.bsky.social
1.2K followers 883 following 64 posts

Illustrator, like a ray of sunshine and a pencil had a baby. www.shawnielsen.com

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Reposted by Shaw Nielsen
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 20h
Part of why I don't like the AI-or-bust economy is the constant flopsweat of people on the news who say this HAS to work. Quit making everyone so anxious. Goddamn. If this is the next Google then why are you acting like this? I don't remember being told to buy an iPhone at gunpoint.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 18h
"You're an author? Would I know anything you've written?" "Have you heard of the book Eat Pray Love?" "Oh wow. I have, actually!" "Well, one of my books was printed in a typeface not totally dissimilar to the one in that."
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CZEdwards @czedwards.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Nah, it actually sucks at the user level. I live with someone forced to use it, whose coworkers have become progressively less able at their jobs, less able to communicate effectively, less moral, less ethical, more paranoid, and it links directly to the C-suite’s (not-yet homicidal) AI psychosis.
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Matt Baldwin @thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
We made up our minds that "AI is Bad" because IT'S BUILT WITH THE STOLEN SUM TOTAL OF OUR LIFE'S WORK, for which we have received no real recompense or restitution. Our labor is being blatantly exploited to create these products, and I have increasing contempt for people who elide that fact.
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Arden Powell @ardenpowell.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you think an artist's style looks like AI but you can scroll back through their portfolio and see them doing the same work before 2020, congrats, you're not looking at an AI grifter. You're looking at one of the original victims whose entire style AI stole.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"The false testimony included a nonexistent person named Danny Stanton saying he received threats, and another made-up person, Linda Stanton, saying her husband received threats."
404media.co
Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal
"Do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?” one of the judges asked the lawyer, who submitted false testimony and witnesses after usin...
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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
i really can’t bring myself to care about AI anthropomorphism debates. “is AI thinking?” i don’t know. is a calculator calculating? questions for the philosophers. what’s important is that we put sam altman in prison.
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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.
A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with 
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Beyond morality, I think this sort of stuff is a strong recession indicator. My prediction is that as the economy gets more and more uncertain and existential for people, we will see more advertising leaning directly into outrage, pain, xenophobia, loneliness, nostalgia, gambling, and addiction.
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 19/09/2026
They are trying to blame AI for these kinds of mistakes in the way that you put googly eyes on a rock and then pretend it's a scapegoat.
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 19/09/2026
Every now and then I see myself referred to as an "AI Denier" and I want to be clear I acknowledge "AI" exists, it's just I think it's a massive energy drain, created from theft, implemented poorly for inappropriate tasks by loathsome tech executives who get hard at the idea of the rest of us dying
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Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Eye popping. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft. Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 12/09/2026
There is apparently no more searing hurt than an "AI" fluffer discovering their favorite science fiction writer disdains their beloved spicy autocorrect, it's a pain only matched by a conservative learning that their favorite rock band has been Marxist the whole time
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Dolly Parton's take on AI in 2023: “I hope nobody can ever replicate me or what I do. AI is a scary thing. I’m sure it’s a good thing for scientists or medical things. But when it comes to trying to duplicate a human being and every little thing they are, it don’t seem right to me. It’s too much.”
gizmodo.com
Dolly Parton's Sister Asks People to Stop Posting AI Slop of the Legendary Singer
"I hope nobody can ever replicate me or what I do. AI is a scary thing," said Dolly Parton in 2023.
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
would love to hear even a single actual argument about how AI "changes the nature of humanity" not based in fanciful speculation
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The Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Just went to buy @gilduran.com's "The Nerd Reich" on Google Books, and discovered that the enshittification is so thorough that it's not safe to do so - I was very close to buying one that's actually AI slop with an identical title and author name. This is utterly insane.
A screenshot of deceptively marketed books on Google books.
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Goodnews @goodnews.computer · 04/09/2026
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
A hand holding a model train with a replica of the same graffiti on the full scale train car behind it.A model train with two graffiti pieces on opposite sides.
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Michael Pina @michaelvpina.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
did a pod with @jkylemann.bsky.social to talk about where the clippers go from here (lol) before we power ranked the entire western conference: open.spotify.com/s/V3aDuW1
open.spotify.com
NBA Drops Hammer on the Clippers. Plus, the Western Conference Hierarchy
The Ringer NBA Show · Episode
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Raffi_RC @raffic.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🌟 well, now I’ve done it—made New Yorker magazine.. a whale of a cartoon! 🐳 a wonderful part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of my Singable Songs album. 🎉
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Rowan || Aurora || ECLIPSA @ruadhain.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
-IMPORTANT- Gumroad has recently updated their website with the intention of phasing out the ability to manually edit your storefront and allowing you to only edit your storefront via AI agents. I will be dropping gumroad support entirely in the near future. More to come as I sort things out.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Dolly Parton made savvy moves with songwriting rights and royalties starting 60 years ago that made her oceans of philanthropy possible. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dolly...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Dolly Parton, Rights Holder, Dead at 80
When some stars or legends die, they spur outpourings and commemorations that...
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 22/08/2026
The biggest mistake that people made about the AI bubble is assuming that the rich and powerful are smart, better-informed or somehow intellectually superior. Yes, they'd absolutely spend all this money without really knowing if it would work! Everyone around them said it would
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Ken Tremendous @kentremendous.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
"We can't use your product if anyone knows it's your product because everyone hates your product" is maybe a sign that your company stinks
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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
our entire global financial system is currently leveraged to the hilt on the premise that it was good and right for a small cadre of US companies to steal all of the intellectual work ever produced by humanity and sell its back to us without credit or remuneration to the authors (plagiarism)
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Marc Laming all singing, all dancing comics guy. @marclaming.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
It genuinely hurts my heart when I see published prose novels using AI generated cover illustrations - good cover design and illustration is real art and a very human one. Authors and publishers, if you are using AI art you should be massively ashamed of yourselves as budget is no excuse for this.
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 10/08/2026
thinking about what one trillion dollars of investment in clean energy would look like and getting so mad i need to lie down with the lights off
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
the dream of AI for the bosses is that it will be a way to fire all designers and artists but it doesn't work. Not because of inherent qualities of the technology but because any low-cost/low-effort solution will quickly become tightly associated with "small businesses run by lazy dipshists"
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/08/2026
jesusfuckingchrist
kptv.com
Oregon senators warn prediction markets allowing betting on wildfires could incentivize arson
A public report urges the CFTC to ban prediction market contracts on destructive wildfires, raising concerns over public safety and potential arson.
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 11/04/2026
I don't know how to explain to the people who pop up when creatives complain about "AI" to say there are legit uses for it just how much they sound like someone saying "Well actually fire is used to make bread" when people are talking about an organized arson ring burning down their fucking houses
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
So many sneering elitist journalists with snarky posts over the past months that the Reflecting Pool story was trivial. It was so trivial that the DC US Attny presented false evidence to a grand jury to indict an innocent man to please the President while they both lied about it.
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Edd Coates | Game UI Database @eddcoates.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
LinkedIn added an "AI slop" button. The U-Turn is happening, expect to see a lot more of this from other tech companies.
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Comics in the Spooky Age 🧛‍♂️🧟‍♀️🎃 @comicsinthega.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Cover by Paul Murry. #WesternComicsMonth
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse #53 (1957). "The Case of the Missing Steers." On the cover, Mickey and Goofy are dressed as cowboys and sitting on a horse together. They are nothing looking in different directions very intently as if they are searching for the steers.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
welcome to the tinned fish thread. in this thread, there’s tinned fish. my review of this tin: pretty good tuna 👍
Olasagasti white tuna in olive oil
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Animation Obsessive @ani-obsessive.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
She was Hayao Miyazaki's "right-hand" collaborator from the '70s onward. Her name was Michiyo Yasuda -- the best color designer in animation. Yasuda's eye for color gave Ghibli's work a totally different look. We explore her methods: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/the-artist...
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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
What’s wild is that only a few years ago, “prediction markets” had a whole different name and you used to have to go to Reno or Atlantic City to participate, otherwise it was a crime. Now we can’t even regulate them.
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 24/07/2026
Yes, all of this. Use your library! It's an unmitigated good in the world!
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
In the future every smart TV will have an “AI” tab where you can say stuff like “make me a new Star Trek episode” or “make me a murder mystery set in Stars Hollow” and no matter what prompt you give it, it’ll show you a deepfake of a jacked and nude Donald Trump hunting bald eagles with a crossbow
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Joshua Rivera @jmrivera.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
insane how there isn’t a single industry where being good at your job does anything for you variety.com/2026/film/ne...
variety.com
Pixar Bears Brunt of Disney Studio Layoffs as Company Axes Several Hundred Staffers
Pixar Animation Studios, despite riding high on the success of summer blockbuster "Toy Story 5," was hit particularly hard in a wave of corporatewide layoffs at Disney.
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Animation Obsessive @ani-obsessive.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Concept art by Maurice Noble for What's Opera, Doc? (1957), dir. Chuck Jones, Warner Bros. Cartoons
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jen rofé @jenrofe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
AUTHORS! Do not, without the explicit permission of an illustrator, upload the art from your book into any AI system to create content like trailers for your book. I cannot believe this needs to be said AND HERE WE ARE.
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🍉 Vancouverismism 🍉 @vancouverismism.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
AI is a bubble and it's going to burst, catastrophically. Good thing corporate stooge Mark Carney has invested Canada's entire future ecology & economy on a vapour industry doomed to failure. And get @doctorow.pluralistic.net's "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI" from @versobooks.bsky.social.
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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
37-year-old lifelong New Yorker here. You know, growing up, I don’t remember being trapped inside by toxic wildfire smoke. Certainly not with this regularity. I have a toddler. I am beyond outraged over the state of the planet he will inherit—a crisis fueled by greedy businessmen and their allies
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Legendary editorial cartoonist Pat Oliphant @anntelnaes.bsky.social tribute on SUBSTACK: substack.com/pub/anntelnaes/p/legendary-editorial-cartoonist-pat?r=3gwynu&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 14/07/2026
Onthisday in 1789, the Bastille was stormed in Paris, a key turning point of the French Revolution. 3.5 years later Louis XVI was executed by guillotine. We look at the deluge of prints that emerged depicting his death publicdomainreview.tumblr.com/post/8221146...
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Animation Obsessive @ani-obsessive.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Concept art for The Iron Giant (1999), dir. Brad Bird, Warner Bros. Feature Animation Pieces by Dominique Louis and an unknown artist
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Tim Ellis, TDSB Ward 2 candidate 🍁 @djdynamic.ca · 08/07/2026
"They just want to turn it off." A fascinating story of the librarians who have started teaching classes showing people how to remove AI "features" from their phones and apps. www.bangordailynews.com/2026/07/02/m...
bangordailynews.com
These Maine librarians are helping patrons resist AI and Big Tech
Despite breathless reporting on how AI is going to change the world, Hannah Cyrus, a Bangor librarian, said that, in her experience, most library patrons aren’t finding it helpful.
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